Immunization registry progress--United States- January-December 2002.

Immunization registries are confidential- computerized information

systems that collect vaccination data within a geographic area. By

consolidating vaccination records from multiple health-care

providers- generating reminder and recall notifications- and

assessing clinic and vaccination coverage- registries serve as key

tools to increase and sustain high vaccination coverage. One of the

national health objectives for 2010 is to increase to 95% the

proportion of children aged <6 years who participate (i.e.- have

two or more vaccinations recorded) in fully operational-

population-based immunization registries. This report summarizes

data from CDC\'s 2002 Immunization Registry Annual Report (2002

IRAR)- a survey of registry activity among immunization programs in

the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) that receive grant

funding under section 317b of the Public Health Service Act. These

data indicate that approximately 43% of children aged <6 years

are enrolled in a registry/ achieving the national health objective

will require increased implementation of functional standards to

improve data quality.